In modern consumer electronics, audio capability is playing an increasingly larger role as improvements in digital audio signal processing and audio content delivery continue to happen. There is a range of consumer electronics devices that are not dedicated or specialized audio playback or pick-up devices, yet can benefit from improved audio performance. For instance, portable computing devices such as laptops, notebooks, and tablet computers are ubiquitous, as are portable communications devices such as smart phones. These devices, however, do not have sufficient space to house relatively large microphones or speakers. Thus, microphones and speakers sizes are becoming more and more compact and decreasing in size. In addition, due to the compact devices within which microphones and speakers are implemented, they are often located close to the associated acoustic input or output ports of the device and therefore susceptible to failure due to particle, water and light ingress.